Users of present day cellular telephone networks frequently experience the loss or “dropping” of a call. Dropped calls in cellular networks may result from a variety of causes including, for example, gaps in cellular coverage, system congestion during periods of heavy usage, and the failure of call handoffs. When a wireless call ends, the wireless subscriber is frequently not informed whether the other party ended the call, or whether the call was dropped due to a problem with the wireless network connection, even though the wireless network or the cellular telephone may have that information. A user may continue to carry on a conversation after the other party is no longer part of the call. Each time a call is dropped, one of the parties must redial the other party's number to re-establish the call. Some cellular telephones provide an audible tone to indicate to the user when an idle cellular phone enters and exits areas of cellular service. The cellular telephone user, however, does not necessarily know when and where cellular coverage will be re-established, or for how long. Although there are typically multiple wireless service providers for a given geographic area, a subscriber is usually restricted to the use of their own service provider, even when coverage by their own service provider is poor. Therefore, the user must repeatedly check the cellular telephone (which typically has a display indicating signal strength) to determine when there is sufficient coverage to re-establish the call, or must repeatedly and blindly activate the “redial” feature of the cellular telephone, if one is provided, until the call is re-established. Even if the redial feature is available, the telephone of the party that received the call would not be able to take advantage of that feature since it did not originate the call. The process of re-establishing the dropped call is particularly unsafe when the user is driving an automobile, and in any instance is extremely inconvenient. Moreover, when signal strength is just barely sufficient to establish calls, it is not uncommon for there to be a rapid succession of drops and redials.
In some situations, one or both parties may not know the number of the other party. This may occur when a call is dropped after the connection to the called party has been completed by directory assistance, or when the call was placed to a central number and a then connection to the extension of the called party is established. In addition, a subscriber may be on hold or in a queue when the call is lost, and may lose their priority and be forced to re-establish the call through a series of menu choices.
Often, one party to the call still has cellular coverage, or is served via a wired network connection. The party with working cellular or telephone service may call the party whose service failed and, being unable to establish contact due to lack of coverage, is directed to the dropped user's voicemail. While the party with service is leaving a message, the wireless subscriber who lost coverage may regain it, and may then attempt to re-establish the call. They may then receive a busy signal, and to add to the confusion, received notification of a voicemail message. This may continue to delay re-establishing the call.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.